Recent from talks
Eddy Brown
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Eddy Brown
Edwin Brown (28 February 1926 – 12 July 2012) was an English footballer who played as a centre forward. He played professionally for a number of clubs, but the peak of his career was spent with Birmingham City during their most successful period in the 1950s. Over a professional career of nearly 400 appearances in the Football League, he scored at a rate of very nearly one goal every two games. He was a pioneer of the goal celebration.
Brown was born in Jutland Street, Preston, Lancashire and attended St Ignatius primary school in the town. He was a religious boy, and at the age of twelve began to attend the De La Salle Catholic college on Guernsey with a view to taking Holy Orders. He studied at the college for eight years, during which time the boys were evacuated to the mainland when the Germans invaded, a disruption which did not prevent Brown achieving four A levels (in English, French, Latin and History) and laying the foundations for his lifelong love of Shakespeare.
However, after the war he returned to Preston and in August 1948 was persuaded to defer his calling to make use of his gift for football instead. He presented himself at Deepdale and said "I am a centre forward." Preston took him at his word and he scored a hat-trick on his debut for the "A" team which secured him a professional contract.
He joined Preston at a time when Bill Shankly was nearing the end of his Preston playing career; Brown believes his success in the game owed much to the lessons learned from Shankly in that first year:
He said football was all about the soul, enjoying your life, but always keep striving for that bit extra. He could be crude, rude and outspoken, but it would be football for breakfast, dinner and tea. He was an astonishing and genuine man and football was his obsession. Bill was a preacher, but he always preached with a smile on his face. If I hadn't started at Preston and not met Bill Shankly, who was so kind to me, I don't think I'd have made a living out of football.
In 1950 Preston paid Second Division Southampton £10,000 plus the services of Brown to bring goalscorer Charlie Wayman, whose family had been unable to settle in the south, back nearer home in the north of England.
When Brown joined Southampton, he found it difficult to replace Wayman who had become a cult-hero with The Dell crowds. After his retirement, Brown admitted that "strolling around (Southampton) soon after his transfer, he wondered what he had done as everywhere he turned there were reminders of just how popular Wayman had become."
Nonetheless, Brown was able to overcome this difficult start and, helped by his pace and deadly right foot, he came close to emulating his predecessor's scoring achievements. In the 1950–51 season he scored 20 goals in 36 league games, but Southampton's defence leaked too many goals and they finished in mid-table. The following season started in similar vein, and Brown maintained his scoring ratio with 12 goals in 21 games, until injury meant his season – and his Saints career – came to an end in January 1952.
Hub AI
Eddy Brown AI simulator
(@Eddy Brown_simulator)
Eddy Brown
Edwin Brown (28 February 1926 – 12 July 2012) was an English footballer who played as a centre forward. He played professionally for a number of clubs, but the peak of his career was spent with Birmingham City during their most successful period in the 1950s. Over a professional career of nearly 400 appearances in the Football League, he scored at a rate of very nearly one goal every two games. He was a pioneer of the goal celebration.
Brown was born in Jutland Street, Preston, Lancashire and attended St Ignatius primary school in the town. He was a religious boy, and at the age of twelve began to attend the De La Salle Catholic college on Guernsey with a view to taking Holy Orders. He studied at the college for eight years, during which time the boys were evacuated to the mainland when the Germans invaded, a disruption which did not prevent Brown achieving four A levels (in English, French, Latin and History) and laying the foundations for his lifelong love of Shakespeare.
However, after the war he returned to Preston and in August 1948 was persuaded to defer his calling to make use of his gift for football instead. He presented himself at Deepdale and said "I am a centre forward." Preston took him at his word and he scored a hat-trick on his debut for the "A" team which secured him a professional contract.
He joined Preston at a time when Bill Shankly was nearing the end of his Preston playing career; Brown believes his success in the game owed much to the lessons learned from Shankly in that first year:
He said football was all about the soul, enjoying your life, but always keep striving for that bit extra. He could be crude, rude and outspoken, but it would be football for breakfast, dinner and tea. He was an astonishing and genuine man and football was his obsession. Bill was a preacher, but he always preached with a smile on his face. If I hadn't started at Preston and not met Bill Shankly, who was so kind to me, I don't think I'd have made a living out of football.
In 1950 Preston paid Second Division Southampton £10,000 plus the services of Brown to bring goalscorer Charlie Wayman, whose family had been unable to settle in the south, back nearer home in the north of England.
When Brown joined Southampton, he found it difficult to replace Wayman who had become a cult-hero with The Dell crowds. After his retirement, Brown admitted that "strolling around (Southampton) soon after his transfer, he wondered what he had done as everywhere he turned there were reminders of just how popular Wayman had become."
Nonetheless, Brown was able to overcome this difficult start and, helped by his pace and deadly right foot, he came close to emulating his predecessor's scoring achievements. In the 1950–51 season he scored 20 goals in 36 league games, but Southampton's defence leaked too many goals and they finished in mid-table. The following season started in similar vein, and Brown maintained his scoring ratio with 12 goals in 21 games, until injury meant his season – and his Saints career – came to an end in January 1952.